The Road
by X59
Summary: At twelve he starts to suffocate from everyone turning to him as the universal advice-giver, at twenty seven he's happily married. What road of life did Arnold walk to make it there?


"Hey Arnold I need help."

"Arnold I require assistance."

"Arnold can you get…"

"Arnold I need advice…"

The requests blend all around him and he wants to scream, shout, and cry. _Leave me alone!_ He wants to shout to the sky, to the heavens, to his friends, to family and strangers. _Let me be a kid, solve your own problems!_ He wants to grab the adults who are turning to him and shake them until they wake up and realize that their turning to twelve year child for advice about their life!

"Hey Arnold…"

"Shortman…"

"Hey kid…"

He wants to run through the forest, splash in the river, dance in the rain, and fly through the sky. He wants to play football, baseball, be on the track team, and blast his music to drown out the voices overwhelming him at thirteen.

"Ah there's Arnold, we need a …"

"I'm ever so certain you would help make the play…"

"Arnold my man, can you settle this for me and Stinky."

 _Shut up…shut up…shut up…shut up…_ it's a mantra running through his head. _Shut up…shut up…shut up…shut up…_ its his own personal drum beat as if he's The Master but without a Doctor. The moment the thought comes he wants it so badly that it hurts. He wants his own TARDIS and to just fly away. Fly away from the endless noise that just won't stop assaulting his fourteen year old ears!

"Hey Arnold Suzie's mad at me and…"

"Arnold I need you to…"

"Arnold, could you be a dear and…"

"Class I need a volunteer…oh Arnold…"

It's an endless burling of eyes as everyone turns to him to sort out their problems and he wants punch and kick them so badly and scream. _Why should I listen to the same thing over and over again! I gave you the solution to this exact problem two months ago!_ _ **What about my problems!**_ _ **Why should I care about yours, when you won't care about mine! Bother a different fifteen year old!**_

"Move it football head!"

"Hey Shortman has anyone cute girl caught your eye."

"Gee Helga looks amazing."

"I know she's stunning, what do you think Arnold."

His responses taste like ash in his mouth and he's too numb to care that people think he's that dense at sixteen to see not see Helga's loves him. He's too tired to care that people are betting when he and Helga are going together, marry, and how exactly how many children they will have. _People need better fucking things to do with their time._ He can't help wonder how many people are fucking in this bet when he finds himself partnered with Helga in every class they share together.

"Arnold?"

"You have the credits but are you sure?"

"Football head you're graduating early?!"

At seventeen he's had enough and knows he has to leave before his fire is snuffed out by the cold numbness sweeping through him. He ignores his friend's requests, **no demands** , for explanations and focuses his year on securing the few credits and classes he needs to graduate. For the first time in what feels like forever a weight has been lifted from his shoulders and he feels at peace. In the mean time he endures people turning to him for advice, as he hangs with his friends skillfully dodges and redirects questions about what his plans are for the future.

"You're leaving?!"

"But…but you can't leave!"

"What about the boarding house?"

"What about, Hillwood?"

Everyone is stunned when he reveals that he's moving in the fall to attend college out of state. He feels like laughing at the sunned their looks as if they expected him to stay in this small town forever and be there to give advice. The summer months is a whirlwind of activity as he prepares to move, people try to figure out where, a few try to convince him to stay, and he idly wonders if he was that good of an actor if no noticed just how unhappy he became in the town he once saved.

At eighteen he's laughing, running, and dancing in the rain in New York City because he can and because he absolutely loves his life. He's made new friends and he absolutely loves how they don't expect him to be the advice giver or have all the answers. He still gives them advice but he's learned to give when they ask and he's very careful to ensure that he doesn't get trapped as the universal advice giver, like he was in Hillwood. To his eternal joy his friends equally give him advice back and he feels more comfortable turning to them with his problems then he ever did with his old friends, because they don't expect him have all the answers.

At twenty he and his friend Terry are roommates and they've been nicknamed Watson and Sherlock, because Arnold's training to be a doctor, Terry a detective, and Alice is really that unimaginative. It's a Halloween party and they've dressed the part when he's spotted and approached by Sid, who has recently moved to New York for a fresh start. They've both know that they've grown apart and the reunion is awkward because Sid looks like he's expecting something and Arnold's learned to not offer anything blindly. They eventually part ways and Tony is quick to try to enlist Terry and Arnold in figuring who Alice's crush is and the matter is forgotten about for a brief time.

Two weeks later he sees Sid again and this time Eugene is with him and he learns Sid is currently crashing on Eugene's couch. He can't tell who is more annoyed at this arrangement, and from the way they are looking at him he knows they want him to solve the situation for them. In that moment that their eyes reach his that he almost wants to scream, punch them, and flee all at once because he doesn't want to become trapped in that vicious cycle ever again. He has no idea how he does it but he's able to keep his voice cool as he explains he and Terry have agreed to not anyone else leave in the apartment with them after housing Tony for two weeks, when his building was being fumigated. He wishes them the best of luck before going off to finish his shopping and he quietly laughs to himself when he sees how stunned they look when he didn't magically make their situation better.

They don't approach him after that and he's not sure on how to feel about it. Alice bakes him a cake and tells him to not think about it. Tony laughs himself sick after learning he is reason that they won't house anyone and protests he was not bad, and laughs harder when Arnold and Terry give a list of reasons on how he was.

At twenty one he becomes reacquainted with Rhonda and Nadine and they both remark on how he happy is and most importantly to Arnold they apologize for not respecting his decision. Through them that he becomes reacquainted with the others and some friendships are restored, while others fizzle and have their final deaths. It's fairly easy to say goodbye to Eugene, Sheena, Sid, Harold, and Stinky (they think Arnold should have been to fix Eugene's-Sid's solution and no one is impressed by their naivety), and harder for Helga (one look and she knew that Arnold wasn't that dense and would never see her beyond a friend and she just couldn't accept it). At the same time he regains his friendships with Robert, Joey, Zack (Peapod Kid), Lila, Park, Lorenzo, Curly, and most importantly Gerald (who apologizes seeing what Arnold was going through too late and for not being there and accepts that Terry is now Arnold's best friend, with slight bitterness). His relationship with Phoebe (she believes in the end-game of Helga-Arnold) only exists for Gerald's sake and everyone's knows it.

At twenty five he bumps into a woman with long red hair and is instantly smitten. Her name is Alexis Castle, she's 23 years old and they quickly become friends. It takes a month before they begin dating and no one can agree on which one asked the other. Arnold's grandparents maintain it was Arnold and while Alexis's family maintains it was Alexis. Their friends suspect that they didn't ask each other out but just began kissing. The truth of the matter is that Rhonda after one month of dealing with Arnold talking about Alexis nonstop snapped grabbed both of their heads and brought their lips together. Everyone laughs when they acknowledge this at the wedding and Rhonda holds her head high.

It's not the life Arnold expected, but as he dances with his wife when he's twenty seven, he wouldn't trade it for the world.


End file.
